U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the toll from Israel’s military offensive on Gaza’s civilians remains “too high.”

Blinken made the comments Wednesday as he was in the region seeking to broker a cease-fire that would pause the fighting.

Blinken said the Israeli offensive, launched in response to a deadly Hamas cross-border attack on Oct. 7, is “fully justified.”

But he expressed concern about the effects of the offensive on Gaza civilians. Thousands of civilians have been killed in the fighting, and the offensive has displaced hundreds of thousands of people from their homes and led to a humanitarian crisis.

“As I told the prime minister and other Israeli officials, the daily toll that its military operations continue to take on innocent civilians remains too high,” Blinken said.